Exploring Docker Containers for Time-sensitive Applications in Networked Control Systems

The automation pyramid is shifting and will most likely not have a stock in rigid form. The shift is towards Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) and Cyber-Physical Production Systems (CPPS). Some components in CPPS have to meet real-time requirements. One trend coming along with the change in automation architectures is the virtualization of applications. This enables platform independent development and deployment of secure and isolated applications. Yet, virtualization of applications comes with additional software components and therefore, additional processing effort. For web-services, virtualization is widespread, for embedded systems virtualization development and deployment is not common due time constraints of applications. The use of virtualized applications in embedded systems would have significant benefits like less effort in cross-platform development and cross compiling to state two examples. The method of virtualization in CPPS have to be evaluated concerning time-sensitive applications. In this approach, the time delays occurring through the additional virtualization layer with Docker containers are explored.